The weather forecast had a couple days with highs around 70 coming up and it seemed like a great opportunity to take care of one of the things that’s been on my to-do list way too long: a return trip to Cossatot River State Park and Natural Area. The main objective was to collect my own data for the map to replace the lower-quality data I was using. The 70-degree highs I expected turned into low-80s realities and that made conditions pretty unpleasant for me on the trail but I pressed on and got the job done.

Like before, I camped at the Falls Campground but in site #1 this time. I was able to hike the whole Corridor Trail (twice, since I had no shuttle) and also the Harris Creek Trail – a 3.5 mile loop at the south end of the park.

About the only part of the Corridor Trail that looked familiar was the waterfall area at mile 6. It was in good shape overall, with only a couple areas where I had to detour around down trees. Blazes are abundant, even overdone, with some kind of blue on almost every tree. The river level was about 2.75′ on the Vandervoort gauge so crossing the low water bridges was not an issue. I noted during my last visit that the Ed Banks bridge was closed to vehicle traffic but it has been repaired since and is open.

The Harris Creek Trail was nice enough but you probably don’t need to go out of your way to hike it. I expected the Goat’s Bluff Overlook of the Cossatot River to be a highlight but you can’t really see much through the trees.